PINE, LENTEN ROSE, Fern & MOKUBA RIBBON
A sprawling, textural hand-tied from the garden as winter turns to spring tied with embroidered silk ribbon.
FEBRUARY
INGREDIENTS
Nandina domestica (sacred bamboo)
Pinus contorta (lodge-pole pine)
Dryopteris (wood fern)
Helleborus x ballardiae ‘Maestro’ (lenten rose)
RIBBON
Black silk ribbon embroidered with flowers from Mokuba
NOTES
Inspired by a garden we visited in Japan - minimal selection of just four ingredients are gently balanced for a textural bouquet using the hand-vase technique. This involves creating a circle between your thumb and fore or middle finger, then layering up the stems of foliage to create a supportive network for the flowers.
This ribbon is something of a talisman and has been with us since the beginning. I remember the afternoon I bought it in the Mokuba ribbon store in New York. It was a chilly April day. That morning I had been interning for Nicolette Camille, helping to deliver some flowers from her Williamsburg studio to an event in Manhattan. I remember looking over into the backseat of Nicolette’s truck, crossing the bridge, with the soft pastel yellows and plum spring flowers gently jostling together in the morning light. After years of changing jobs I remember distinctly thinking, at that moment: ah okay, I think I’ve finally found what I want to do with my life! Every time I see this embroidered silk band slither out of the ribbon box I remember how new and exciting it all was, on the very brink of beginning. And I can honestly say it is no less new and exciting now.
A tip: make use of your prunings! I always cut back the ferns in my London courtyard by mid February and love to use them as collars for bouquets or as filler foliage in arrangements at this time of the year.